West Bengal Tourism Minister wants safaris into the Sunderbans core area

Also to set up more Tourist facilities at Dooars

Saturday 09-Jul-2011 | Mumbai

Better accommodation, river cruise, sea sports and safaris into the Sunderbans core area — state tourism minister Rachhpal Singh promised these and more while inaugurating an event last week.

as per a report in the Telegraph, blaming the previous Left Govt., the minister pointed out that lodges owned by the Tourism Department didn’t have basic amenities and over the years, the department had not undertaken any scheme to highlight Bengal’s tourism potential.

“The tourism department only runs these lodges, and those too are in a ramshackle condition. You need to pull strings or run from pillar to post to get accommodation in these lodges. We just found out that liquor licences meant for the tourism department have been rented out to private parties. No wonder that places like Dooars, Darjeeling and the Sunderbans don’t have any facilities,” the minister said. “Why should only ministers have access to the core jungle area of the Sunderbans? What will the others go to see… the grass?”